Haynes v. Wisner

224 P. 592, 129 Wash. 92, 1924 Wash. LEXIS 613
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 27, 1924
DocketNo. 18279
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 224 P. 592 (Haynes v. Wisner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haynes v. Wisner, 224 P. 592, 129 Wash. 92, 1924 Wash. LEXIS 613 (Wash. 1924).

Opinions

Pemberton, J.

The respondents were the owners of the capital stock of the Stanley Apartments, Incorporated. That company owned the furniture and fix[93]*93tures within, and a lease upon, the Stanley Apartments, located in the city of Seattle. The appellant owned the furniture and fixtures and a lease upon the Donnelly Hotel, in the city of Tacoma. After considerable negotiations looking towards an exchange of properties, on December 1,1921, these parties entered into a written agreement, the essential portion of which reads as follows:

“That the party of the second part (respondents) shall pay all just debts owing by the said Stanley Apartments Inc. as of December 1, 1921, and all rentals and interest shall be adjusted as of said date, and that the party of the first part (appellant) shall adjust with the parties of the second part all debts, rentals and obligations of the Hotel Donnelly as of the same date, to-wit; December 1, 1921; and it is further agreed that the parties of the second part will furnish the party of the first part with full and complete information for the purpose of making return of income of the said Stanley Apartments, a corporation, for the period commencing January 1,1921, and ending November 30, 1921, and that the parties of the second part will pay ll/12ths of any taxes that may be assessed against said corporation for the calendar year 1921.”

There were certain mortgages against the Stanley Apartments, Incorporated, property which the appellant assumed. The respondents were to pay the appellant an additional consideration of $7,000 to be secured by a chattel mortgage upon the furniture and fixtures of the Donnelly Hotel, which was executed by the respondents and put in escrow and was so held at the time of the commencement of this action. Immediately after the execution of the contract mentioned, the respective parties exchanged the properties. Respondents insist that, under the terms of the above agreement, appellant should pay the following items:

[94]*94(1) Personal property taxes for the year 1921 on the Donnelly Hotel property, $487.87.

(2) Taxes for the year 1921 on the leasehold real property of the Donnelly Hotel, $6,608.48.

(3) Local improvement assessments against the same property, $1,548.28.

(4) Federal income tax against the same property for the year 1921, $660.

There were also a few minor items in addition to those above given. All these sums the respondents were compelled to pay in order to keep their lease alive.

By this suit the respondents sought to have these various items charged against the appellant and credited on the $7,000 mortgage above mentioned, for a cancellation of the mortgage, and for personal judgment for all over the amount of the mortgage. Appellant denied liability and set up a counterclaim and set-off and asked that possession of the note for $7,000 be given her. The court, trying the case without a jury, found that it was the duty of the appellant to pay 8/12ths of the 1921 personal property tax and 8/12ths of the 1921 real property tax and ll/12ths of the 1921 income tax, all of the local assessments, and certain other minor items, all amounting* to $8,086.81, and that appellant had a counterclaim and offset in the sum of $244.23, thus leaving a balance in favor of the respondents in the sum of $7,842.58. The court cancelled the note and mortgage given by the respondents and gave a personal judgment against the appellant for $842.58, from which this appeal is taken. Bespondents have cross-appealed.

The chief question is whether the items above mentioned are to be charged against the appellant under the terms of her contract which provided that she “shall adjust with the party of the second part (re[95]*95spondents) all debts, rentals and obligations of the Donnelly Hotel, as of the same date, to-wit; December 1, 1921.” The lease to the Donnelly Hotel real estate which appellant assigned to the respondents provided that the lessee should pay “before delinquency all taxes, assessments, liens or other incumbrances which may be levied, assessed, accrue or arise” against the hotel real estate, and also all income tax chargeable against the owner of the hotel real estate.

The 1921 personal property tax involved was levied in October of that year, became a lien as of March 1 of that year, and became delinquent after February, 1922. The 1921 real estate tax was levied in October, 1921, became a lien on March 1 of that year, and was delinquent after May 31, 1922. The testimony with reference to the local assessments is somewhat meagre, but from it we can determine that it became a lien on October 22,1921, and delinquent on November 22,1922. It will thus be observed that, at the time of the execution of the contract upon which this suit is maintained, to wit, December 1, 1921, the real and personal property taxes in question had become liens but were not payable, and of course were not delinquent. "While the local improvement assessment mayjhave been payable, it was not delinquent.

Appellant contends that the contract does not require her to pay any portion of those taxes and assessments, while respondents argue that she is obligated to pay all the local improvement assessment and “adjust as of December 1,1921,” the real and personal property taxes and the income tax. By their cross-appeal they contend that the trial court should have required appellant to pay a larger percentage of these taxes than determined by the judgment.

In this agreement we have no mention of taxes, except in the latter portion of the paragraph it pro[96]*96vides “that the parties of the second part will pay ll/12ths of any taxes that may he assessed against the said corporation for the calendar year 1921.” . While it refers specifically to the income tax of the Stanley Apartments, it particularly states that the second parties shall pay ll/12ths of any tax assessed against the Stanley Apartments, Incorporated. No reference is made in the agreement to the payment of the taxes upon the Donnelly Hotel. Since reference is made to the debts of the Stanley Apartments and the debts of the Donnelly Hotel, and thereafter the taxes of the Stanley Apartments are specifically mentioned and no reference made to the taxes of the Donnelly Hotel, these taxes, it is contended, were not considered or they would have been mentioned in the contract.

The lease agreement of the Donnelly Hotel was for the period of ten years extending from the first day of January, 1918, for which the lessee agreed to pay the sum of $120,000, at the rate of $1,000 per month in advance on the first day of each and every month, beginning with January 1, 1918.

It is the contention of appellant that the taxes for the year 1917, levied prior to the execution of the lease agreement, would become a lien and be payable in the year 1918, the first year of the operation of the lease, and that this is the construction given by the parties to this lease agreement, and was so understood by the respondents at the time of the exchange of the property and the execution by them of the $7,000 mortgage upon the Donnelly Hotel to appellant as part of the consideration for the exchange.

Respondents contend that, under the terms of the lease, the taxes levied in one year are considered an obligation of the lessee and, under the terms of the lease, are to be paid by the assignor even though they do not become a lien and payable until a year there[97]*97after.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
224 P. 592, 129 Wash. 92, 1924 Wash. LEXIS 613, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haynes-v-wisner-wash-1924.